In the pet wholesale and retail industries, maintaining the health of the animals such as birds, small mammals, fish, reptiles, and amphibians waiting to be sold is a paramount consideration. One such health maintenance concern involves reducing the impact of one sick animal from spreading to others nearby. Thus, in many instances, the animals requires isolation from one another, particularly wherein development of airborne contagions such as those common in birds may occur. Along these lines, it is often preferable to manage any cross contamination of the air in the various animal cages. Another health maintenance concern is providing a habitat that is comfortable for the animal. Some animals are preferably kept in groups while others prefer a more solitary habitat.
In addition to health maintenance, another significant consideration for the wholesaler or retailer is creating a display of the animals to entice sales. For example, enabling observation of the animals in a naturally simulated environment, providing information nearby about the animals being observed, and reducing odors emanating from the habitat produced by animal droppings or meals factor heavily in creating a display as well. Reducing allergens and animal dander produced by the animals is also a consideration. Another significant concern is the security of the animals and any structure housing the animals should take this into account. This is particularly important with exotic species of birds and reptiles with costs ranging anywhere up to tens of thousands of dollars. As a number of animals are typically maintained in one site or section of the store and their respective habitats may take up significant floor space, blending these health and marketing considerations into a satisfactory solution is often challenging.
A wide variety of animal display devices have been developed, although many sacrifice one or more of the foregoing considerations and emphasize others. For example, birds are often displayed in open air cages near heavy traffic locations in the store. Such cages may be unlocked or have a simple lock to prevent customers from opening the cage. However, the bird is exposed to the ambient air and allergens and dander are not controlled. In addition, the birds in these settings are often removed and stored in a more secure cage at the end of the shift thus further adding to the animal's discomfort.
Another common pet store set up involves dedicated built-in rooms for larger and more exotic birds that may have large a glass panel and an employee entrance in the back. These open air rooms typically do not reduce odors, airborne contaminants, or allergens produced by the animals and thus the customers and employees may suffer. In addition, typically the rooms are not well isolated and one sick animal may contaminate a number of animals in close contact, particularly in the situation where the air is shared. The environment surrounding the animals is also unpredictable and thus the animal's health may be a concern.
Reptiles, amphibians, and fish are often maintained in glass enclosures (tanks) that are stacked on shelving units. Each tank or series of tanks may have its own or common light source and common environmental control system. In addition, these tanks are typically exposed to the same ambient air. Also, these animals often have more significant environmental control concerns such as heating, air supply, and lighting and require more stable environment to improve the animal's chances of living a long and healthy life.
As for the marketing concerns, store inventory and internal appearance frequently change, and thus the built-in rooms offer little in the way of adaptability. In order to build a new habitat in another location of the store, additional rooms must be constructed and the old ones may have to be torn down. Also these rooms are typically located off to the side and away from the primary foot traffic and thus do not prominently display the animals.
For those displays that do locate animals in the heavily trafficked areas of the store, the presentation of the animals in a pleasing manner while providing security for the animals also presents a challenging solution as some animals are not particularly suited to lots of customer interaction and crowd access may present a problem. In addition, it is often desirable to locate the animals at an off site location such as at a trade show or other public appearance. In those cases, it would be advantageous to have a readily transportable assembly that somewhat resembles the habitat in the retail setting to reduce a change of environment impact on the animals.
Thus, what is needed and heretofore unavailable is an animal display and habitat structure satisfying a wide range of health and marketing concerns of the retail or wholesale pet owner while providing a secure environment for the animals and facilitating transportation of the display structure to alternate locations if desired.